Battle of Poltava 8 july 1709

1. Battle of Poltava 8 July 1709
Russia 1 - 0 Sweden
Poltava
Anders Dernback slideshow / text wikipedia

2. Map of the battlefield. Poltava is to the south. Near the
Russian fortified camp in the middle, notice the "T"
formation of Russian redoubts between the Budyschenski
wood to the west and the Yakovetski wood to the east. The
original Russian camp is to the north and is marked
"20.25.6". The Pushkaryovka camp, with the Swedish
baggage, would be in the southwest corner of the map.
8 July 1709
1 0
Russia Sweden

3. The Battle of Poltava (8 July 1709) was the decisive victory of Peter I of
Russia, also known as "the Great", over the Swedish forces under Field
Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld, in one of the battles of the Great Northern
War.
It is widely believed by historians to have been the beginning of the
Swedish Empire's decline as a European great power, while the Tsardom of
Russia took its place as the leading nation of north-eastern Europe. The
battle also bears major importance in Ukrainian national history, as Hetman
of Zaporizhian Host Ivan Mazepa sided with the Swedes, seeking to create
an uprising in Ukraine against the tsardom.
Today at the site of the battle there is a State Cultural Heritage Preserve
Complex in Poltava known as the Poltava Battle Field, which consists of
monuments and churches commemorating the event.

4. Charles XII had led Swedish forces to early victories in North Zealand
(summer 1700) and in the Battle of Narva in November 1700. However, it
would take six years before he defeated Augustus II of Saxony-Poland. Peter
I withdrew from Poland in the spring of 1706, and offered to cede his Baltic
possessions to Sweden except St. Petersburg, but Charles refused. Peter
subsequently adopted a scorched-earth policy in order to deprive the
Swedish forces of supplies.
Charles ordered a final attack on the Russian heartland with a possible
assault on Moscow from his campaign base in Poland. The Swedish army of
almost 44,000 men left Saxony on 22 August 1707 and marched slowly
eastwards. Charles took the field in November after waiting for
reinforcements to arrive. Continuing east, he crossed the Vistula River on
25 December 1707, then continued through a hostile Masuria and took
Grodno on 26 January 1708 after Russian troops had abandoned the city.

5. At the time the Russians had been occupied with a large rebellion of
Don Cossacks, known as the "Bulavin Rebellion" (1707–08). This revolt was
contained in part by the forces of the Cossack Hetmanate led by Hetman
Ivan Mazepa. The Swedes continued to the area around Smorgon and
Minsk, where the army went into winter quarters. Charles left 8,000
dragoons under Maj. Gen. Ernst Detlof von Krassow in western Poland.
Poor weather and road conditions kept the Swedish troops in winter
quarters until June 1708. In July the Swedes defeated Marshal Boris
Sheremetyev's forces at the Battle of Holowczyn and advanced to the
Dnieper River. During the spring Gen. Lewenhaupt in Courland had been
ordered to gather supplies and march his army of about 12,000 men to join
Charles' forces. However, his departure from Mitau was delayed until late
June and consequently he only joined Charles' forces on 11 October

6. Rather than winter in Livonia or wait for Lewenhaupt, Charles decided to
move southward into Ukraine and join Mazepa, who had decided to
rebel against Peter. Peter sent Sheremetev to shadow the Swedish army.
Lewenhaupt followed south and was attacked while crossing a river near
a small village that gave name to the Battle of Lesnaya, losing the
supply train and half of his force. In need of resupply, Charles moved
towards Baturyn, Mazepa's headquarters, but Russian troops under
Aleksandr Menshikov reached the city first. Anticipating the Swedish
arrival, Menshikov ordered the merciless massacre of the population,
razing the city and destroying or looting arms, ammunition and food.
Charles decided to move
southward into Ukraine

7. By the spring of 1709 Charles' force had shrunk to half of its original
size. After the coldest winter in Europe in over 500 years, Charles was
left with 20,000 soldiers and 34 cannons. Short of supplies, he laid
siege to the Russian fortress at Poltava on the Vorskla River on 2 May
1709. Peter's force of 80,000 marched to relieve the siege. Upon his
arrival, Peter built a fortified camp on the Vorskla, 4 km north of
Poltava. While observing the Russian position on 20 June, Charles was
struck by a stray bullet, injuring his foot badly enough that he could
not stand. In addition, Charles' last hope of reinforcement expired, as
the Swedish forces under von Krassow had turned aside to deal with
the anti-Swedish Sandomierz Confederation in Poland
By the spring 1709

8. Between the Russian and Swedish forces the Yakovetski and
Budyschenski woods formed a corridor, which the Russians defended
by building six forts across the gap. Peter, in addition, ordered four
more redoubts built so the entire system of ten forts would have a T
shape, providing flanking fire to a Swedish advance. Two of the
redoubts were still being constructed on the morning of the battle, but
4,000 Russians manned the remaining eight, with 10,000 cavalry
under Gen. Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov stationed behind them.
The Yakovetski Woods

9. Battle
Because of his wound, Charles turned
over operational command to Field
Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld. Four
columns of infantry and six columns of
cavalry were to form during the night,
600 meters south of the redoubts,
intending to attack before dawn in order
to swiftly bypass the redoubt system
and hit the Russian fort. The infantry
was in place by 2:30 a.m. but the
cavalry arrived late, having lost their
way. Riding forward, Axel Gyllenkrok
observed the Russians at work on the
two nearest redoubts and rode back to
inform Rehnskiöld. A reconnoitre by Maj.
Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld

10. Wolmar Anton von Schlippenbach was discovered by the Russians and
the alarm was sounded by the firing of a pistol. Having lost the element of
surprise, and without sufficient cannon to breach the fortifications,
Rehnskiöld consulted with Charles, Carl Piper and Lewenhaupt on whether
or not to proceed with the assault. By the time Rehnskiöld decided to
proceed with the attack by quoting, "In the name of God then, let us go
forward", it was nearly 4:00 a.m. on 28 June (Swedish calendar) and dawn
was already approaching.
The Swedes in Carl Gustaf Roos' column quickly overran the first two
redoubts, killing every Russian soldier inside them, but by 4:30 a.m. the
attempts to take the third redoubt stalled. Lewenhaupt's ten battalions on
the right bypassed the first four redoubts entirely, advancing to the back
line and, with the aid of cavalry, took some redoubts while bypassing
others. Two of Roos' rear battalions joined them, indicating that issued
orders lacked clarity as to whether to avoid the redoubts or attack them in
series.

11. The cavalry on the left wing, commanded by Maj. Gen. Hamilton and
an infantry regiment, advanced by passing the redoubts on the left
and charged the Russian cavalry, forcing them to retreat. It was
5:00 a.m. when the left and right wings of the Swedish army made it
past the back line of redoubts, sending the Russian cavalry in
retreat. However, Rehnskiöld ordered his cavalry to stop their
pursuit and Lewenhaupt, already advancing towards the fort, to
withdraw to the west. There they awaited Roos' battalions for two
hours, while the Russian cavalry and Ivan Skoropadsky's Cossacks
waited to the north, with 13 Russian battalions deployed north of
their camp and ten to the south, anticipating a Swedish advance.
The cavalry on the left wing

12. Gen. Roos and six battalions (one-third
of the Swedish infantry) became isolated
while attempting to take the third
Russian redoubt. After suffering severe
casualties from several assault
attempts, Roos led the remaining 1,500
of his original 2,600 men into the
Yakovetski woods to the east at 6:00
a.m. The Russians reoccupied the first
two redoubts and launched a two-
pronged attack by ten regiments around
7:00 a.m.
Roos was forced to surrender his
command.
Roos six battalions

13. Charles gathered the remainder of
his troops and baggage train and
retreated to the south later that same
day—at about 7:00 p.m.--abandoning
the siege of Poltava. Lewenhaupt led
the surviving Swedes and some of the
Cossack forces to the Dnieper River,
but was doggedly pursued by the
Russian regular cavalry and 3,000
Kalmyk auxiliaries and forced to
surrender three days later at
Perevolochna, on 1 July. Ivan Skoropadsky
Hetman of Zaporizhian Host
The fear of other
reprisals and
suspicion of
Mazepa's
newfound
Swedish ally
Charles XII
prevented most of
Ukraine's
population from
siding with the
rebels.
In need of resupply, Charles moved towards Baturyn, Mazepa's headquarters, but Russian troops
under Aleksandr Menshikov reached the city first. Anticipating the Swedish arrival, Menshikov
ordered the merciless massacre of the population, razing the city and destroying or looting arms,
ammunition and food.
By the spring of 1709 Charles' force had shrunk to half of its original size. After the coldest winter in
Europe in over 500 years, Charles was left with 20,000 soldiers and 34 cannons.

14. Charles XII and
Mazepa at the
Dnieper River after
Poltava by Gustaf
Cederström.

15. High-ranking Swedes captured during the
battle included Field Marshal Rehnskiöld,
Maj. Gen. Schlippenbach, Maj. Gen.
Stackelberg, Maj. Gen. Hamilton and Prince
Maximilian Emanuel, as well as Piper. Peter
the Great held a celebratory banquet in two
large tents erected on the battlefield.
Voltaire assumed Peter's reason for this, in
raising a toast to the Swedish generals as
war masters, was to send a message to his
own generals about disloyalty. Two mass
graves contained the Russian dead, 500
meters southwest of their camp. Previously
defeating Peter, Charles had gone so far as
to pay the Russian troops. Peter instead
took many Swedes, with great pride,
and sent them to Siberia.
Peter sent them to Siberia.
Lewenhaupt was given
command of the infantry at
the disastrous Battle of
Poltava (1709) and the
Surrender at Perevolochna.
He was kept a prisoner in
Russia, and he lived in
Moscow until his death on
12 February 1719

16. Casualties and losses
Swedish accounts: 6,900 killed and wounded, 2,800 captured.
Russian accounts: 9,234 killed, 2,864–2,977 captured

17. Poltava is a city located on the
Vorskla River in central Ukraine.
It is the capital city of the
Poltava Oblast (province) and of
the surrounding Poltava Raion
(district) of the oblast. Poltava is
administratively incorporated as
a city of oblast significance and
does not belong to the raion. It
has a population of 289,000.

18. Charles XII and Mazepa escaped with
about 1,500 men to Bendery, Moldavia,
then controlled by the Ottoman Empire.
Charles spent five years in exile there
before he was able to return to Sweden in
December 1715. During this time, even
handicapped, he retained his magisterial
calm demeanor under fire, fighting his
way out of several situations. The high
vizier of the Turks was eventually paid off,
with much intrigue and espionage
involved and plots within plots, at one
point involving a ransom of the Russian
crown jewels, according to Charles' prison
translator
Bender,
Moldova
Five years of
Exile in
Bender